


Calling Over Oceans

by roguefaerie (samidha)



Series: Calling Through Time [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bottom Severus Snape, Canon Divergence - Post-Battle of Hogwarts, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Good Severus Snape, M/M, Magic, Sam Winchester Detoxing From Demon Blood, Season/Series 04, Severus Snape Lives, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-23
Updated: 2019-03-23
Packaged: 2019-11-28 14:25:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18209513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/samidha/pseuds/roguefaerie
Summary: Severus is with Sam in his world and learning a new way to use his magic. Sam is in recovery and can use all the help he can get.





	Calling Over Oceans

**Author's Note:**

  * For [masaothedog](https://archiveofourown.org/users/masaothedog/gifts), [halfbakedsnape](https://archiveofourown.org/users/halfbakedsnape/gifts).



> Gratitude once more to my betas/collaborators masaothedog and halfbakedsnape and everyone else who weighed in on points of this fic.

“When you said I’d help,” Severus snarls, “And I agreed, I meant help and I expected you--”

He stops. It doesn’t matter. Dean is just...staring. He’s not paying Severus the tiniest bit of attention. His confusion is clear on his face. He looks directly at Sam, and the question he’s asking is clear. What the hell is this?

“He’s...The whole last day or so--” Severus offers.

“Where’s he been? What happened? You’re not even from-- How did he--”

Severus sighs. “No. I’m not.” He spreads his hands. “But Sam...he’s persuasive, and if there’s something that’s been haunting him, I promised to help with that.”

Dean nods. “There’s someone… probably someone I should call. We should be there for this…”

“Well...we’re not. We’re here. And your brother…” Severus runs his hands gently over Sam and the seizing ends. “He’s… There is a substance.”

“How did you-- You could have done that ages ago!”

“Excuse me, _Dean_ but I just walked into your world yesterday and I’ve no idea how my magic works here so I would appreciate if you allowed for a slight learning curve.”

Dean sighs. “That was… That was good. What you just did. What you were able to do. Thank you.”

“You’re quite welcome. Now… Has he been drinking any potions?”

“He’s been...weird. But I’ve been, uh, really, he could have gotten into anything while I was, uh, I haven’t really been around much.” Dean studies the carpet.

“Last night?” Severus asks, already knowing the answer in a way. He’s seen this haunted look before, he’s--

“Longer than that. Like Sam was saying, it’s a long story.”

Severus takes several steps back until he hits the wall near the door. “Are you a Death Eater? Do you bear the mark?”

“What? No. What the hell is-- Who the hell _are_ you?” Dean reaches for something near his hip and produces a flask, flicking Severus with water. “Do you know Ruby? Shit. You wouldn’t tell me if you did.”

“I’m…” Severus deflates and moves closer to Sam again. “I’m here for Sam. He doesn’t think I’m cursed, or evil, or….”

Dean lets out a guttural sound. “Yeah. That’s Sam, all right. Look, it’s complicated. And I’d say that if Sam trusts you, then I trust you, but uh, he doesn’t have the best track record.”

“I know,” Severus whispers.

“Hey. This thing I’m talking about--it’s not you. I’m, uh, I’m sure you’re great. It’d be even greater if you could help me with Sam, okay? So let’s just...uh….”

“I’ll help you with Sam. I’ll do whatever is needed. But unless I know what potion he’s--”

Sam starts shaking again, not the quaking of a seizure but the chills Severus knows mean fever.

“Sam,” Severus says, a bit louder, intending to wake him.

“Sammy,” Dean says, and tries to jostle Sam into wakefulness.

It works. Sam’s bleary but he wakes up. “Dean… Ruby…”

“I’ll kill her!” Dean all but screams.

“She let me run out.”

*~*~*

“Run out? Run out? Of what, Sammy?” 

Sam’s eyes are closing.

“No. No, no. Come on, Sammy.”

Severus reaches for his wand with his left hand, flicking it. Nothing happens.

His heart sinks, visibly enough that it’s evident on his face.

“You have a wand?”

“Well. It’s not working.”

“Hey, man.” Dean watches him with caution clear on his face. “These things...happen, I guess.”

“I am in a new realm.”

That’s about the moment that Dean checks out, visibly, again. He is not going to willingly help Severus much with figuring out the rules of the place he’s in. And Severus can’t really blame him. Sam is in danger.

“What did she give him?” Dean finally asks when he resurfaces briefly. 

“Is she a witch?” Severus asks.

“Well...she was.”

Severus breaks into a sweat. His wand isn’t working and--

He reaches for Sam, squeezing gently on a limp arm, and it grounds him.

“There’s somewhere else we should be,” Dean says again.

“Well, we are here. And his pulse… His blood….”

Dean’s face closes off for a moment, eyes flickering as new memory resurfaces. Severus recognizes the look from time with the pensieve.

“Blood...is he drinking blood? Is he drinking her blood? _demon blood_?!”

“Demons?” Severus asks, feeling suddenly tired and weak. “The blood...is a possibility. It feels…”

Fear sings through him. It feels like his magic is dying or changing and his lover’s blood is--

But all he knows that he needs right now is to talk to Sam.

“Samuel,” he says. He touches Sam again, the way he did to still the worst of the sickness. “I think it’s time you wake and tell us what you mean.” He keeps his voice calm. Without judgment.

Sam opens his eyes, sitting up with a groan, and reaches for Severus, who gets an arm around him to steady him and takes Sam’s hand. “It’s all right.”

“Ruby… She…” His voice is weak, and he clears his throat but the words still come out slowly, as if each one is an effort.. “Demon. Severus. I told you… Magic’s here. I wanted… to stop the apocalypse… I know the blood is making me…. someone else….”

“I love who you are,” Severus says.

“Demon blood?” Dean asks.

“I wanted...to find someone...for my birthday, who wouldn’t judge me. I’m sorry, Dean. But I needed that. I knew if I stayed away...I might end up in withdrawal. I wanted working with her to be the answer but….Nothing that feels like this….is the answer. Please….”

“What do you need?” Severus and Dean say, speaking almost but not quite in tandem.

“Dean, I want… I don’t want us to fight. Please. I feel like… the blood… it showed me… what it would be like, how hard I’d fight, and I don’t want to. Please. I want to fight the blood instead. I want to stay on the same side. And Severus… Severus makes me feel normal…”

“Yeah, that’s not always been a good sign, Sam--” but Dean stops himself before the nickname has fully left his mouth. “But I get it. Sam, you know I’ve always told you… And you can rest assured I’ll always tell you… You’re not a monster. If Severus makes you feel that, a little louder, I’m all for it.”

“You are?”

“Of course. You know who I blame for this, Sam. You know how I’ve always felt about her. As long as it’s me and you fighting for what’s right… we can do what needs to be done. Now...come on. You’ve been on the floor a long time and you must be in pain. Let’s get you in bed.”

Severus and Dean once again take a side and lift Sam into the motel bed. Severus feels a shock moving along his arm as he touches Sam, and without thinking twice he gets in the bed beside Sam, though he’s still nervous and feeling small.

“Sam,” he whispers. “Be alright. I’ll help you through anything. But I’m going to need your help when you weather this storm.”

Dean looks over at the pair of them, hovering close, but not too close to encroach in Severus’ space.

“You’re good for him. I thought that was gonna be more of a fight,” Dean says. “But I can tell….He’s feeling strong. His willpower.”

“Yes. Sam has quite a will.” Soft, slightly breathless chuckles come from both of them and they look at each other with equal bemusement on their faces..

“Thanks….I couldn’t have really done all this on my own here. You’ve been a big help.”

Severus smiles slightly and curls in against Sam. “I won’t leave him. I’ll keep working to calm all of this,” he says, and he means it, even if he doesn’t understand what happened to his magic when he crossed through the portrait, and he’s still scared. “Oh, Sam,” he whispers, emotion all but overcoming him and leaving no room for fear or modesty. He can remember Dean saying they’d both had boyfriends, and that alone makes Severus feel safer. And seen for who he is.

“I don’t want to leave him,” Dean says. “But Ruby… I’ve been ready to send that bitch back to hell since the moment I got ba--”

“You are demon hunters?” Severus asks. 

“And a bit of everything else, yeah.”

“I see.”

“Severus.”

“Yes?”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. I’ll watch over him. I’m able to...pass him….whatever is left of my magic now…”

“Both of you need rest,” Dean says.

“I’ll rest when he’s free of his demon.”

“You and me both, man.”

Severus gently cradles Sam against him and talks to him directly. “What’s left of my magic, it is yours for the taking in this struggle, my magic boy.” 

Sam coughs, a long, thick, rolling cough. Then, just as quietly as Severus has been speaking, Sam asks, “Is it too much? Am I--”

“No,” Severus says fiercely. “Not for a moment. Come here to me.”

Sam curls ever closer to Severus and allows love to wash over him. Once safely in Severus’ arms he drifts off to sleep.

Severus and Dean exchange relieved looks and Dean blows out a breath. He says from behind gritted teeth, “I’m going to kill her.”

Severus knows he’s telling the truth.

*~*~*

Dean is gone, researching or driving to blow off steam. He tells Severus that he won’t just tear off without some kind of plan, and Severus is pretty sure that’s the truth as well because it’s hard enough for Dean to pull away from Sam.

Dean has watched them for the better part of the day before leaving, telling Severus more than once that he likes to see the two of them together and that Severus has been a huge help. It’s obvious that these things aren’t easy for Dean to say but he recognizes that they are real things worth saying in any case.

When Severus and Sam are alone, the tears start to flow from Sam. “Hurts. Worst I’ve ever felt. But your hands…”

Severus nods, and runs his hands over Sam again, whose back arches enough to help him curl closer to the touch. “That’s amazing. I….want to learn how you do that…”

“So do I,” Severus says.

“You aren’t leaving? You’re staying? I want to...thank you. Dean would stay too but...I know he’s angry. He’ll let it out when the crisis is over, maybe. Too much history. Too much…”

“I’m here.” Severus’ voice is soft and lilting. In his emotional moments, he can hear an understated Irish brogue filling the air and it makes Sam smile.

“Sorry you’re stressed,” Sam murmurs. “God, the way you make me feel, that you’d stay.”

“Of course I would.”

“Because you could choose....otherwise.”

“First of all, so could you if you weren’t in this hell right now. But second, I wouldn’t. I want to stay. You’ll let me, won’t you?”

“‘Course I would. Severus...how did we find each other, really?”

Severus sighs and brushes Sam’s brow. “I don’t know, love, to say for sure, but--”

“Mm?” Sam’s starting to shiver again, and Severus takes his hand firmly, willing the symptoms away.

“Well. There was a day… A day by the water…. You know… Ireland… is where my Mam is from, and it’s an island…”

“Mm,” Sam closes his eyes. “Love that. Tell me.”

“There were days...and I couldn’ta told you which one…. But I’d ask, Sam. Life there was hard and I knew it was going to get harder. So I’d ask, when I was a kid, and any time I was home.” He slips in and out of the brogue as emotion and calm wash over him like waves. He takes in a gentle suggestion from Sam to breathe. “The ocean sometimes doesn’t care, but it’s where the life comes from. And so I’d ask it. For help. For...for understanding. Not sure if I was asking the impossible. No wand, just….just a knowing that I needed to do this.”

“And you think…” Sam is wheezing the tiniest bit, “You think the ocean brought all this together?”

“Seems someone did. Maybe the faeries… Maybe the water…”

“And you’re sure of us.”

“I’m sure this is what I want. I want to be here. Fever, Sam?”

“Don’t know, too many things at once. Can you just…” Severus takes a guess and runs his hands along Sam’s arms and body again and Sam sighs. “Magic….”

“I’m glad to ease your pain.”

Sam sits up gingerly and pulls Severus close, knowing Severus will feel the sickness close to him but still wanting the intimacy.. He kisses him, and Severus breathes into the kiss, taken in, even in Sam’s state.

“Thank you,” Sam murmurs. “You make me feel alive. And that I’m going to get through this.”

Severus gently settles Sam back down among his pillows and kisses him on the forehead. “Sleep well, Sam. I’ll be here. I promise.”

*~*~*

Dean is single-minded, obsessed with finding Ruby. As soon as he ducks back into the room, it’s like all the energy is sucked out of it as his anger radiates off of him in waves.

“I just don’t like seeing him like this,” he tells Severus.

“What do you normally do?” Severus asks. 

“I stay with him. Through anything. But this…”

“Well then maybe he needs his brother. Maybe more than you need to kill a demon. I know it’s your job--”

“She poisoned him.”

“And, Dean, what if… we need him to be strong for the moment when she dies?”

Dean goes pale. He sits suddenly, with a thud, and he is instantly barely there again, staring at Sam as if in the middle distance.

“What you’re doing, is it helping?”

“He seems to think so. He seems to be--” Severus sighs. The truth is, he doesn’t know how he’d know, in some ways. He’s only ever seen Sam while he’s been under the influence of the demon blood.

Will Sam even want him here on the other side of this mess?

“Severus,” Dean says, some of the color coming back into his face. “It’s okay. Sam doesn’t do anything that he doesn’t want to do. I could be angry--furious--about this, but I know.... A little bit what ( _the black ichor of hell seeping through everything_ ) he was going through and...she pushed him, too. I know she did. But I haven’t seen you hurt Sam. You’ve been selfless. It’s a little bit hard for me, but… The way he is with you, even when he feels this bad… Sam means everything that he does."

Severus nods. “Oh,” he says softly. “I thought so but I…” 

“We’ll make sure nothing goes pear shaped. He’s recovering okay and...Sam knows how to treat people. It’ll be okay, dude.” 

Severus chuckles. “I see. Thank you, Dean.” 

“You’re welcome. Thank you for your help.” 

“I’ll do anything that needs to be done." 

*~*~* 

Severus keeps close to Sam through it all. He even knows when Sam is seeing things that aren’t there, and he holds onto Sam’s arm until his eyes clear again. 

He’s worried, but he doesn’t feel drained, even though he thinks maybe he should, or does and just doesn’t notice it. 

He thinks of all the years of stress and turmoil, sheer terror at times for the potential cost of one slip up among the children of Hogwarts, and how he stuffed it down, and now he isn’t sure sometimes when he’s feeling things or meant to feel things. 

And he thinks of the uncertain years in his mother’s house, his father’s rages and the contrast between the two of them, and how he hopes, he hopes, he doesn’t have to _actually_ worry about losing magic, even though in some ways it would be going back to--to-- 

But he can feel his magic soaring along his veins when he touches Sam, and so he does, and remembers that just like he told Sam, he has it inside of him. 

The wand doesn’t make the wizard. He has used more than one in his time, hand-me-downs though they were.

“Sam. Samuel. Tell me when it eases off. I haven’t my potions here so you must tell us.” 

Sam opens his eyes and they’re wet. “Tell Dean I don’t want to fight him. Please.” 

“He knows. He’s here. Oh, my magic boy. You saved my life and I--" 

Sam burrows closer. “Not evil….for doing this?” 

“I don’t know what brought it on, Sam, but--” 

Sam freezes. His face closes up instantly, and Severus recognizes the look of panic. “Dean. Where’s Dean?” Sam asks. 

“Sammy,” Dean says, his voice having a note of command to it that Severus knows is an attempt to ground Sam. “Right here. Right here.” 

“Dean, I didn’t mean to. I was trying everything. And she said--” 

“That you would grow into your powers. I know. I know her, Sam. You think I don’t, but when I was in--” 

“Dean…” 

Dean follows Severus’ lead, putting a hand to Sam’s wrist. He can feel a racing pulse, and he says, “Focus on this pressure, Sam. This won’t be forever. You’re going to make it.” 

“Severus takes the pain away but Dean--don’t go.” 

“Right here.” 

*~*~* 

It’s Dean’s idea to pay for extra nights in the motel. They’re too afraid to move Sam now, even to a safe place for hunters. Dean shows Severus how to make wards and Severus takes to it immediately. It’s something to do besides wait through the ebb and flow of Sam’s pain. And there are elements that are easily comparable to the formula of a potion. Severus may not know the true fate of his magic in this world, but he hasn’t lost what he knows. 

He buries the worry and throws himself into his work. 

A few times Dean says, “Maybe we should take him out to the car,” but Severus only has confused looks when it comes to that idea, and Dean lets it go. 

Sam’s sheets are sweat-soaked and he has stopped eating. Dean blearily says partway in, “It’s been two and a half days, Sam. You know her black blood isn’t food as well as I do.” But Sam just gags and shakes his head. Dean sighs. “All right.” 

Water starts staying down the next morning. And then Sam is a flood of apologies and thanks. “You two...thank you. Even now...you haven’t made me feel...like a…” 

Dean sighs. “Sam, you know I never bought into that. You know I fight for you every day. You’re not a monster. Never will be.” 

*~*~* 

Deep in the bowels of supernatural earth, the “angels” are meeting with the demons. If Ruby doesn’t have a hold on Sam anymore, it will take a long time to rebuild a scenario for apocalypse. 

The angels are as angry as the demons that the work Azazel put in has somehow been thwarted--tortures undone and the grip of hell no longer oozing through Sam Winchester’s veins. 

At least not in the way that they planned. 

The halls of hell fill with fresh rage. If Ruby must be sent to her death for failure, then so it shall be. 

*~*~* 

Tears leak from Sam’s eyes and he hides his face. “Dean. It hurts.” 

“How long.” 

“The whole time. I just...got used to it. It always burns. It always--but I deserved it. I deserved it.” 

“Sam. She came to you in a moment of grief.” 

“Does that mean she deserves….” 

“If it will keep you safe, then yes, absolutely,” Dean says. 

“I think I’m ready. If you can find her.” 

Dean Winchester has the air of someone who knows he can find Ruby blindfolded. 

“I’ll be back as soon as I can. I… I’ll be back, Sam. You’re okay. If anything happens, ask Severus for help. I know he’s got you.” 

Sam smiles faintly and then turns the full wattage of a Sam Winchester grin on Severus as the door clicks shut. “That. That’s the Dean Winchester seal of approval, love.” 

“He’s right,” Severus whispers. 

*~*~* 

“But are you alright, Severus? It’ll be--I know it’s--an adjustment.” 

Severus laughs a bit harshly. “Oh, yes. It is. But I’m alright, Sam. I’m alive because you came for me. And...that wasn’t always what I might have wanted, but I didn’t know that I had options. And love. It’s...it’s been some time.” 

“M’yeah? How long?” 

“I don’t know, it blends together but… the wizarding world is small. I dated...Muggles. Non-magic folk,. And that was awkward. They were men. But something was always missing. You, though, Sam…” 

Sam sighs. “I don’t know. I would say my powers have always been a big responsibility. But I know they helped you, and I love that.” 

“Will you eat some soup for me?” 

“For you? Anything.” 

*~*~* 

The very moment that Dean drives the blade into Ruby’s chest, Severus knows about it. Sam heaves forward in bed and can barely get air in his lungs and Severus’ mind is one long blare of terror until Sam settles back in the bed and his breathing evens out. 

Something happens. As if all the blood that remains and isn’t his dries up in that one terrifying moment and Sam breathes again as his own person. 

“My head,” he says. “Oh, God. It’s still in me. The power.” 

Severus blinks, wondering if he can say the same. “It’s all right, Sam,” he says, though his heart is still hammering in his ears. “I think that’s your normal. It’ll even out. You’ll be alright. I’m right here.” 

Sam takes a deep breath and nods, curls up on his side and into Severus’ arms and Severus swears that the room is filling with the light that is Sam. 

**Author's Note:**

> The 'verse will continue. I hope you are still finding the story enjoyable!
> 
> Updated ETA: Next installment will take a little bit longer than this one did because of various factors. It is in progress, though.


End file.
